Letters, Aug. 25

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Inquiry not the answer

I respect the position that this is a time for action, not an inquiry (Harper rejects inquiry demand, Aug. 22).

The killing of Tina Fontaine must be a priority and thoroughly investigated. As a mother, grandmother and lifetime educator, I want our streets to be safe for our children.

In the last few years, laws have been brought in that are having an effect. Commitments have been made for funding for shelters on reserves, as well as for the issue of missing and murdered aboriginal women. A national DNA-based missing-person's index has been created.

Significantly, last year there was legislation passed that gave aboriginal women living on First Nations reserves the same matrimonial rights as all Canadians, including access to emergency protection orders in violent situations.

Inquiries are not necessarily effective, cost-effective or inspiring of public confidence. They have not been significant or useful either in management or government.

We know what needs to be done, now we need to be responsible in implementing it.

Norma Jones

Winnipeg

Construction signs clutter

NDP house leader Andrew Swan says government construction-site signs inform taxpayers about infrastructure spending and where their money is being invested (Provincial signs likened to 'election propaganda,' Aug. 22).

Does he and the NDP take us for fools? Where would we otherwise think the funds came from to pay for these projects?

We do not need any more visual clutter along our streets and roads. His public scare tactic about a Tory government cutting jobs, services and infrastructure spending is like a bad dessert: no proof in the pudding.

Robert Diamond

Winnipeg

Accountability key

There's more than enough of Manitoba Public Insurance's "we know best" nonsense going around (MPI says PUB should butt out, Aug. 22). If people have questions, answer them. What are you afraid of?

The same also with Prime Minister Stephen Harper's response to the hundreds of female aboriginals slain by unknown perpetrators (Harper rejects inquiry demand, Aug. 22).

People in power often think they know best -- and of course they do know better than us, because we don't know anything. That's why we ask the questions.

It's about time that people in power who are responsible to the people are responsive to the people.

Chris Kennedy

Winnipeg

This is a curious yet disturbing stand that MPI president and CEO Dan Guimond is taking against the watchdog Public Utilities Board.

Perhaps Guimond and company have forgotten that the P in MPI stands for public, not private.

Terry Meindl

Teulon

Time to adapt to climate change

When Scott Forbes asserts that adaptation to climate change should take current precedence over prevention, he could have added that attitudes and actions, not only provincially but also nationally and globally, make this the most logical choice (The fork in the road: Climate change here to stay, Aug. 20).

If Canadians aren't especially concerned about a changing climate, they're unlikely to make major lifestyle changes to combat it, nor will they support any political party proposing new energy taxes or environmental restrictions. They'll adapt to it just as they adapt to the changing seasons.

Edward Katz

Winnipeg

Province on the right track

So Moody's is concerned about the fact 70 per cent of provincial spending is on health care and social services (Long-term plan for budget panned, Aug. 19).

Moody's, along with other so-called financial wizards, was the agency that had no concerns regarding the U.S. mortgage scandal which ushered in the global financial crisis of 2008. In other words, not to be given too much credence.

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, has suggested that for a sustained recovery of the international economy to occur governments must spend more on such things as education and the health of their citizens.

The government of Manitoba is on the right track in spite of what the Canadian Taxpayers Federation might think.

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